Card dealing device



Dec. 17, 1963 w. B. STONE, sR

CARD DEALING ,DEVICE Filed March 8, 1962 LIV/1 1 Lk 4 L V/ U 24 52 WMU-m# imm-f --ww-Cw--U- GGD-m- U-mmm--DE--m-mmm 48 FIG. 5

INVENTOR. WAYNE B. STONE1 Sr.

ATTORNEY United States Patent Otlice 3,114,553 Patented Dec. 17, 1953 3,114,553 CARD DEAEG DEVCE Wayne E. Stone, Sr., 1822 S. Fillmore, Little Rock, Ark. Filed l'tlar. 8, 1962, Ser. No. 178,366 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-149) This invention relates to improvements in devices for dealing playing cards. The purpose of the invention is to provide a predetermined card hand for each player engaged in a particular card game such as, for example, contract bridge.

In the usual card game, such as contract bridge, the luck of the deal contributes largely to la players success or failure. As a means of eliminating the factor of chance from contract bridge in determining the skill of an individual, a game known as duplicate bridge has become increasingly popular in recent years. In duplicate bridge, all players are delt precisely the same hands as have been played previously by another group of players. The game is then scored on the basis of how Well a particular hand was played as compared to the results achieved by a previous player of the lsame hand. Duplicate bridge thus ordinarily involves a large number of players who continually move from one table to another to engage in successive games involving hands which have been played previously by other contestants.

While such duplicate bridge enjoys Wide popularity, the great majority of contract bridge participants attend relatively small gatherings in the home. It is for the use of this group of party bridge participants that the invention is primarily intended. Thus, it is among the purposes of the invention to provide for the party bridge player that advantage of duplicate bridge whereby each player will be dealt a predetermined hand which has previously been played by other bridge players. The players skill may then be eval-uated on the same scoring basis as has been developed for duplicate bridge.

A more complete understanding of the invention will follow from a description of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a card dealing device embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the device;

FlG. 3 is an end elevation viewed from the left of PEG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a guide rod shown in FIGS. l to 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a blank perforated to provide a predetermined card selecting pattern;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the card support means illustrating the loading slots; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of the guide rod and selecting pattern in assembled relationship.

An elongated card support 10 having top and bottom surfaces 12 and 14 and front and rear faces 16 and 18, is provided with a plurality of spaced parallel inclined card receiving slots Ztl* in an intermediate portion `thereof as shown in FIG. 6. The slots 2t) intersect the .top and bottom surfaces 12 and 14 and the -front face 16 of the card support 151 to define card separators 22 between each adjacent pair of slots. The Width of a slot as measured between the adjacent pair of separa-tors is slightly greater than the thickness of a playing card 26. A pyramidal section is cut away from the forward upper corner of each of the separators 22 at the intersection of the top surface 12 and front face 16, as shown in FIG. 6, to form loading notches 24. The slots Ztl lie in individual parallel planes each of which is inclined at an angle of about 15 from a vertical plane as indicated by the angle 0 in FIG. 6. The thickness of the card support 10 as measured between the top and bottom surfaces 12 and 14 is less than the width of a playing card 26 as best shown in FIG. 2. The slots extend rearwardly from the front face 16 a distance which may be equal to the length of a playing card and terminate at 2S short of rear face 18.

A pair of guide elements 311, having vertical and horizontal slide bearing surfaces 3l and 33 respectively, are mounted on the top surface 12 of the support member 1t) towards either end thereof.

A guide lrod 32 has an elongated central section 34 which is slightly longer than the intermediate slot-containing portion of the support member. Each of the enlarged end portions 36 of the guide rod 32 is formed with an inner portion 38 and a terminal outer portion 40. Each of the portions 381and it? is square in cross section and bears an angular relationship of 45 to the other. In other words, the portions 3S and atl assume the form of coaxial four sided prisms displaced by 45. The relative cross sectional configurations of the end portions 3S and 40 are such that, when viewed in end elevation, the outer end portion 40 appears as a square inscribed in the larger square 33t, defining outwardly facing shoulders 42 as illustrated in FIG. 3. The at sides 41 of the outer end portions 40 form slide bearing surfaces for engagement with the upper bearing surfaces 33 of `guide elements Sil. Similarly, the outwardly facing shoulders 42 on end portions 38 form slide bearing surfaces for engagement with the inner bearing surfaces 31 of guide elements 311.

The card selecting member 46 is formed from a rectangular cardboard blank `48 or other flexible material which is scored at 50, 51 and 53. A predetermined arrangement of holes 52 are punched in an intermediate portion of the material 48 along the scored lines as shown in FIG. 5. The material t3 is then bent at right angles along the scored lines and the outer side edges 54 and 56 are secured together by gluing or the like to form an elongated tubular card selecting member 45` having a square cross section complementing that of the end portions 38 of the guide rod 32. The axial length of the tubular member 46 is equal to the axial distance between the shoulders 42 at either end of the guide rod 32.

When the blank 4S is bent into a tubular form of square cross section, the scored lines 50, 51 and 53 become three edges of the elongated tube 46 having a series of lands or projections titl and notches 62 formed in a pattern dictated by the arrangement of openings 52 which were punched in the blank.

The tubular member 46 is telescoped over the guide rod 32 to form the assembled card selector 58 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. When the card selector 53 is mounted on the support member 10; the card selector may then be moved back and forth along the guide elements Sil. The outer ends of the tubular member 46 and the shoulders 42 engage the inner surfaces 31 of the guides 30` to act as fa locating means and preclude any axial movement of the card selector 58j with respect to the support 1li. When so mounted, the projections 6u are in close proximity to the upper surface 12 of the support member as shown in FlG. 2.

Each of the edges 5ft, 51 and 53 of the tubular selecting member is provided with a different pattern of lands 60 and notches 62 while the fourth edge 55 of the tubular member may be imperforate where the sides 54 and 56 are joined.

A modied card selector S8 is shown in FIG. 7 and comprises a solid rectangular guide rod 32 and a card selecting member 46. The guide rod 32 is formed with intersecting slits 7th The card selecting member 46' comprises a pair of separable plastic members 7'2 joined along their respective longitudinal axes prior to their end- 'wise insertion into the slits 7? of guide rod 32 to form the assembled card selector of FIG. 7. The portions of the member 46 projecting laterally of the guide rod 32 correspond respectively to the edges 5t), 51, 53 and 55 of the card selecting member 46 of the preceding figures. Three of the projecting portions of the member 46 are provided With projections 60 and notches 62 while the remaining portion 74, corresponding to edge S5 of the member 46, is unbroken.

The advantages flowing from the practice of this invention will become apparent from the following description wherein the method of dealing a hand of contract bridge is taken as illustrative.

There are fifty-two of the slots and each slot receives a certain one of the playing cars of a standard pack. The slots may be individually marked to indicate which card they are to receive or, preferably, the pack may be first arranged in a predetermined order and the cards then placed in succeeding slots from right to left. The card support itl is placed on a card table and the cards are inserted into the slots with the backs of the cards facing to the left of EEG. 2. The front or face of each card will then make an acute angle with the horizontal and be facing generally downwardly due to the angle of inclination 0 of each of the slots. The loading notches 24 act as guides to initially receive the edge of a card and facilitate its introduction into the associated slot.

After the cards are placed in the slots, their upper edges will project above the top surface 12 of the support 10. The card selector 53 is then placed on the guides 30 with the edge 53 in close proximity to the upper surface 12 and moved forwardly towards the front face 16. The projections or lands 60 engage the upper edges of certain of the cards 26 projecting above the surface 12 as shown in FlG. 2. When the card dealing device is being used to deal contract bridge, the number of cards engaged by the projections 60 will be thirteen for each pass of the selector. As the card selector 58 is moved toward front face 16 of the support member, the cards engaged by the projections will be pushed forwardly from their slots as shown at 66 in FIG. 1. Upon continued forward movement of the card selector, the cards 66 will be pushed forwardly beyond the front face 16 and will then fall face down on the card table due to their downward inclination in the inclined slots. The depths of the notches 62 will assure that clearance is provided between the selecting member 46 and those cards which are not engaged by projections 60.

The first hand ejected by the edge 53y of the card selecting member is then removed and the card selector 58 is rotated through 90 in a clockwise direction to bring the projections of the edge 51 into close proximity to the surface 12 and the process is repeated to eject a second hand The card selector is again rotated through 90 in the same direction to bring the projections on the edge 50 into contact with thirteen more cards to eject the third hand, and finally, the imperforate edge 55 is used to push the remaining thirteen cards from their slots to provide the fourth hand While the game is being played, the dummy may arrange the cards of another pack in the support member. The tubular selecting member 46 is then removed from the guide rod 32 a and differently keyed selecting member is substituted on the guide rod in preparation for dealing the next hand.

It will be noted that there are wider projections 60 along the edge 51 than along the edge S3. The reason for this is that once the cards 66 engaged by the projections on edge 53 have been ejected, the projections on the edge 51 which may extend down in close proximity to surface 12 are not only those necessary to engage the thirteen cards forming the second hand but may also include portions which are aligned with the projections on edge 53. This promotes strength and is feasible because the cards which would have been engaged thereby have already been removed for the first hand The card selector 5S of FG. 7 may be substituted for the selector 58 described above and the operation of the device will be the same.

It is thus apparent that any desired hands may be keyed into the selecting members merely by varying the relative positions of the projections and notches. A suitable cover, not shown, may be provided for the card dealing device to prevent the players from seeing the cards as they are ejected from their slots.

It will follow that the present invention is useful not only in permitting party bridge to be scored by duplicate bridge methods, but it may also be used in setting up the prearranged hands to be played at duplicate bridge. Further, through the use of this invention, the number of participants that may engage in a duplicate bridge tournament is not limited to those who can be present at a particular location. Through the use of identical card selecting members, duplicate bridge clubs at remote locations can be playing the same hands at the same time.

While the utility of the invention has been explained with reference to contract bridge, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is intended to be delimited only by the scope of the appended claims.

l claim:

l. A device for dealing card hands comprising card support means providing spaced slots each wider than the thickness of a card to receive and expose edges of said cards respectively, selecting means providing a plurality of patterns of notches and lands movable relative to said support in a direction parallel to said `slots for engagement with certain of said edges and projection of certain of said cards from their slots, and locating means for restraining each of said patterns against movement in a direction perpendicular to said slots.

2. A card dealing device comprising a body having top, bottom, front and rear surfaces, a plurality of parallel inclined card receiving slots axially spaced along an intermediate portion of said body, said slots intersecting said top, bottom and front surfaces and each having a width less than the width of a playing card whereby a playing card positioned in said slot will project beyond one of said surfaces, guide members located adjacent the ends of said intermediate portion, and a card selector having a plurality of edges laterally spaced from the longitudinal axis thereof, said edges providing a plurality 0f different patterns o-f card engaging projections and notches in intermediate portions thereof, said card selector being supported by said guide members for selective positioning of said edges in close proximity to said one of said surfaces for movement of said selector transversely of said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,260,748 Houghton Oct. 28, 1941 2,619,966 Gallin Dec. 2, 1952 2,642,066 Page June 16, 1953 3,034,512 Hunter May 15, 1962 

1. A DEVICE FOR DEALING CARD HANDS COMPRISING CARD SUPPORT MEANS PROVIDING SPACED SLOTS EACH WIDER THAN THE THICKNESS OF A CARD TO RECEIVE AND EXPOSE EDGES OF SAID CARDS RESPECTIVELY, SELECTING MEANS PROVIDING A PLURALITY OF PATTERNS OF NOTCHES AND LANDS MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID SUPPORT IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO SAID SLOTS FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH CERTAIN OF SAID EDGES AND PROJECTION OF CERTAIN OF SAID CARDS FROM THEIR SLOTS, AND LOCATING MEANS FOR RESTRAINING EACH OF SAID PATTERNS AGAINST MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO SAID SLOTS. 